You won’t win a game you don’t know you’re in. If you don’t know you’re in a game you’re won’t be familiar with the rules and you won’t be paying attention to the trends and nuances that spell opportunity for veteran player.

Here’s an example: In high school my older friends would tell me that I should learn “understand the system” and “recognize that it’s all a game.” At first, I thought this sounded great, but I really didn’t understand what it meant so I continued to follow the conventional advice, “just work hard.” …

After moving from California to New Zealand at age 10, adapting to the culture and especially the education system was a tough process for me. I also had some teachers who cared little to help me with this process and instead opted to make an example of me in front of my new peers on the first day of school.

Not surprisingly, my initial rough start lead to poor grades. Instead of being encouraged to try harder I was labeled as a below average student. At age 10 and 11 the concept of fueling my own personal ambition was simply not in the cards. Within only the first few weeks of class at my new school my teachers expected me to flounder. Sure enough, that’s what I did — and worse, I thought nothing of it…

The problem with always trying to “make things work” is, well… it starts to feel like work — and who wants that? If we label the process as work from the outset we may be unknowingly hindering our enthusiasm and creativity to accomplish the goal.

I like to set goals and achieve them. Making progress simply feels good. But I can’t say the process has always worked in my favor. Sometimes I get so focused on achieving my goals that I physically and emotionally wear myself out. Recently I’ve thought a lot about why this happens and I’ve realized something simple, but yet very profound…

Unless you were born into your ideal life (highly improbable), then we know that we must keep moving to improve our circumstances and quality-of-life. Most of us like to label this “moving” as progress. However, let’s be specific… because it matters a lot here. Moving is not progress unless we are moving in the right direction…

Today marks the beginning of another one of my 90 day travel blitzes, starting with New York City (I love this place).

While it’s strange to live out of a suitcase, it genuinely rejuvenates me. There is something about living with only a few items and seeing your environment change everyday as you experience new cultural undertones and meet completely new people.

Life may always take the exact flight course we anticipate, but if we keep our spirits high and our ambitions alive, we’ll continue to fly in a desirable direction. And sometimes, to keep our peace of mind amidst the turbulence, we just need to be reminded this simple by liberating idea — hence this drawing.

It’s not wording that paints the best mental picture, I know (maybe the unassuming Pac-Man imagery will soften the edge), but it is a notion that ultimately leads to a better outcome. The idea for this post struck me while reading Walter Isaacson’s biography about Steve Jobs. The relationship he had with ideas — even his own, was uncommon. When he came up with an idea he was never afraid to start attacking it — even if the idea has costly short term implications. A well-known example was…

Is there really anything left to say? By nature of the word, finishing means taking something through to the end. It means going the full distance. It means making a full commitment because a half effort won’t get you the full reward.

There’s no mystery here. It’s simply a matter of the physics of time. There are only so many hours in a day and days in a year. Time is a standard metric for everyone (at least until time machines are invented).

But the greatest defining factor of productivity and fulfillment is how we spend the limited time we have. No, this is not a matter of living life in “top gear” 100% of the time; it’s a matter living life “engaged” as much as possible. Quite simply, this means maximizing time spent doing things that make you feel alive. It’s been said many times before: life is too short and too long to spend it doing too many things you don’t like to do.

About the Blog

What's a maxim? An expression of a general truth, a principle.

What's a Maverick? An individual independent in thought and action.

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